Comments on SonlightBlog.com: Peers and Popularity

I look forward to reading your thoughts, Missy!
2010-01-21T15:23:03.224-07:00
I look forward to reading your thoughts, Missy! <smile>

~Luke

I am a former high school nerd and yes, my memorie...

2010-01-20T20:16:01.903-07:00

I am a former high school nerd and yes, my memories of that experience did in fact factor into the push for me to homeschool.

I will definitely be writing a post on this topic in the near future.

Tammy, really? Hmm... well, I guess it really does...

2010-01-19T15:20:18.593-07:00

Tammy, really? Hmm... well, I guess it really does depend on the situation, but I can be really, really, really rather loud <smile>.

Rosslyn, love it <smile>. I look forward to your post! I haven't read any Postman myself, but my wife has and I have heard great things about him. And that is very interesting observation about Kindergarten as the gateway. Very insightful. Of course, I attended Kindergarten and then started homeschooling, so I don't have much experience with the shift.

~Luke

Luke, this is a fabulous link. Thanks! I could go ...

2010-01-18T21:21:42.476-07:00

Luke, this is a fabulous link. Thanks! I could go on and on about this subject, but I'll just make a few comments about Paul Graham's observation that school is prison with no meaningful work for the kids.

Kindergarten is a deceptively "fun" gateway to prison. I think if many parents walked into a first grade classroom without the intermediary stages of pre-K and K, they would be appalled. But the bright distractions of preschool and kindergarten lull parents into accepting the later version of "school as prison" that truly begins in first grade.

I recently visited the first-grade classrooms in our local public school. Seeing these LITTLE kids all as quiet as mourners, for hours a day, made me sad. A learning environment should not be quiet all the time. Yet as a former classroom teacher,I know that in today's undisciplined society, our teachers often enforce silence as the only alternative to anarchy.

If you haven't read him already, I highly recommend Neil Postman's writings on education. He also analyzes the school as a prison-like institution.

Having seen those dead classrooms, I am reassured that despite the personal challenges of homeschooling my gifted daughter, I am doing the right thing. In my view, there is no ethical alternative right now for my daughter's education. Sure, I'd like more freedom for myself. Yes, I would like to have a full-time writing career. But I can't abandon my girl to institutions that kill minds.

I may have to blog myself on this subject, as I obviously have too much to say for a mere comment! Ha ha!

Before I go off to do some link following, I have ...

2010-01-18T20:49:52.415-07:00